We used the Downtube bikes for a recent cycling trip around Italy. The bikes performed great for this 200+ mile tour, which included paved roads, gravel roads, and cobblestone streets! We packed them in standard-sized suitcases (so we didn't pay any extra to take them with us).

And the coolest thing? They pack into a standard size suitcase, so there is no "bike surcharge" of $70 or more charged by the airline. See pix below.

The 20" FS (full suspension) model is pictured here.

More pictures are on our Flickr page.

Tags: bikes,downtube,folding,travel

We've started to put up our product pages, so you can see what's on the way. Please drop us a line if you see something you're interested in, we'll be giving discounts to folks who pre-order.

The shopping cart will be here soon!

Tags: folding

Folding bikes are a great niche for those who do multi-modal transport, such as combining bike/bus or bike/train trips. They're also great for those who travel a lot by airplane and want to take a bike along, without paying baggage fees. We did a two-week long cycle trip in Italy on folding bikes recently, and we had a lot of fun! And the bikes were easy to take on the train with us to get from one place to the next (if it was too far to practically bike). A couple pictures from our tour of Volterra on the bikes are shown below.

It looks like we'll be carrying a brand new style of folding bike, that folds in 1 second to a neat little package! We will be evaluating the bike for durability and quality. As soon as we've had a good look at it, we'll post some pictures here.

Tags: bike,folding